Various types of signs and displays are commonly used as advertisements which must be securely mounted to the sides of vehicles, trailers, buildings, billboards and other types of substrates. Such signs and displays are typically comprised of flexible sheeting material, such as a canvas or plastic material, which exhibits some type of printing, graphics, and/or artwork. In the past, the flexible sheeting material has been secured to a substrate and held in tension by way of a variety of mounting and tensioning systems. A number of such systems are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,535 to Holloway et al. Similar to most forms of advertising, the flexible sheeting material must be periodically removed and replaced with flexible sheeting material exhibiting different printing, graphics, and/or artwork. As a result, the mounting and tensioning system should preferably be designed to allow for the quick, efficient and economical removal and replacement of the flexible sheeting material.
Prior mounting and tensioning systems typically require the use of a frame assembly having relatively complex mounting and tensioning mechanisms, thereby tending to increase manufacturing costs. Moreover, such systems typically require that the flexible sheeting material be equipped with a large mounting bead extending about its periphery, and that the frame assembly include a mounting channel sized and shaped to slidably receive the mounting bead therein. In essence, the bead and channel function as a mortise and tenon arrangement to securely connect the flexible sheeting material to the frame assembly. Such a connection arrangement also leads to increase manufacturing costs.
Furthermore, the installation of prior mounting and tensioning systems is labor intensive due in part to the complexity of the mounting and tensioning mechanisms and the required amount of manual manipulation involved with such installations. The associate tooling used to install prior mounting and tensioning systems are also relatively complex and difficult to manipulate, particularly when dealing with relatively large sizes of flexible sheeting material. The added requirement of having to assemble the mortise and tenon connections also tends to increase installation time and associated labor costs.
Thus, there is a general need in the industry to provide an improved system for mounting a flexible sheeting material to a substrate. The present invention satisfies this need and provides other benefits and advantages in a novel and unobvious manner.